Milsim West: The Battle for Balkar Ridge

by Flandre S. · August 2, 2017

The Battle for Balkar Ridge was a fierce battle fought between Russian and NATO forces that occurred on May 12th 2017 in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, a small province in Russia’s northern Caucasus region.

Previously in the year, Russian forces lost the city of Grozny to the NATO advancement after militia forces were unable to hold the southern part of the city. This victory gave NATO access to the Caucasian highways, giving them a tactical advantage as it gave them the ability to run logistics to various units deployed through the conflict region.

Russian forces ambush NATO forces along the Caucasian highways

Russian and Militia forces realized they needed to cut NATO’s supply chain, and set up ambushes and small scale attacks along the highways used by NATO in the Caucasus region. These guerrilla style attacks on the supply line greatly limited NATO’s effectiveness in the region, and NATO realized in order to continue to make progress within the region, they would need to find the source of the attacks and disrupt the core force orchestrating the confrontations.

After several special operations into the region, NATO intelligence was able to find where the Russian forces and Russian backed militias were organizing the attacks on the supply lines. The location was deep in the forested mountains on a ridge-line. NATO realized that this ridge-line, called the Balkar Ridge by the local people, had to be captured, and the operation’s success relied on using the force they had to push up the ridge as quickly as possible in order to take it from the Russian forces. However, the terrain was unforgiving, and with Russian forces holding the high-ground, the result was all but inevitable.

Russian camp on Saturday morning, letting all their equipment dry after getting soaked from the previous night

Everything went wrong for NATO the night of the planned attack. Heavy monsoon like storms hit the region hard, ruining the NATO campsite, who were positioned on the bottom of the ridge. The bad weather forced them to delay the attack till the morning. With morale low and several squads having left due to ruined gear, NATO struggled to gain any kind of ground as they attempted to force their way up the ridge-line. To make matters worse for them, Russian forces were able to capture two NATO soldiers, one of whom they were able to obtain the NATO command radio frequencies from. Using these frequencies, Russian forces were able to know about a company sized planned attack on the ridge, including the time and location of the attacks. Needless to say, when NATO attempted to execute their assault, Rusfor was there, waiting for them. By nightfall, they had failed to take the ridge and had to go back to their flooded camps.

Russian forces sit atop of the ridge awaiting NATO assaults.

During Saturday night, NATO forces attempted to send some squad sized units to sneak into the Russian camps and disrupt them during the night, however, they were intercepted by militia forces every time, and only a few individuals ever made it through, only to be killed once they reached the Russian camps.

By Sunday morning, NATO pulled together every man they had left in an attempt to execute one massive assault on the ridge, backed with everything they had, but yet again, Rusfor knew the time of the attack due to the intercepted radio chatter, and instead of waiting for NATO to attack the ridge, the Russian forces decided to take the opportunity to counter attack the NATO positions and push them out of the region.

Russian forces moving to assault the NATO positions.

With a company sized force, the Russian and militia forces quietly moved through the mountainous terrain several klicks till they reached where the NATO forces were preparing to begin their advance. At this point, the final engagement began, and the Russians were able to push NATO back to their camp and eliminate their entire force, running them right into and out of their camps.

With that final push, Rusfor was victorious, and the battle paved the way for Russian control in the Caucasus region.

For those interested, /k/ and /asp/ will be joining together to form an entire Militia platoon for the Caspian Breakout in Perry Georgia at the Guardian Centers. Make sure to read the entire MilSim West TACSOP, and you can purchase tickets for “Cossack Militia (The Caspian Breakout)” here:

http://milsimwest.com/tickets/

We are organizing under the name “Gruppa Clover”

You can join our planning group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/241687949620089/